Ambassador – The heritage of Hindustan motors is no more the iconic brand for Hindustan Motors. The brand has been passed on to the PSA group in a deal worth Rs 80 crore which includes trademarks as well.
Ambassador will start its journey again to take over the Indian roads, once it gets remodeled to make it resemble a Peugeot 206.
The HM Ambassador was based on the Morris Oxford III model and was brought to India by the Birlas in 1957. The vintage car with consistently served for more than 50 years became a favourite of the masses, the taxi drivers, and the political class.
As the Ambassador grew, it started becoming obsolete with the advent of new modern offerings in the market with new features.
Sales dwindled but the Ambassador soldiered on for another decade until production was suspended in 2014 at HM’s Uttarpara plant in West Bengal.
The PSA group, the parent company of Peugeot and Citroën announced its future plans of joint venturing with CK Birla Group which will cover manufacturing, distribution of vehicles in India and a power train manufacturing unit.
The carmaker is targeting a partnership deal by 2018 and a product launch before the end of 2021 with its aggressive ‘Push to Pass’ growth plan.
